How do you do

Rewritten post-1960
In the year 1960, executives at the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) were informed by companies about only sponsoring programs aimed at a mass audience, as they realized children weren’t convinced by their advertisements. This revelation caused executives to fear the future of NBC’s most famous children’s show, The Howdy Doody Show.

On the 5 September of 1960, the network announced that The Howdy Doody Show would be taken off the schedule. This decision made national headlines and caused outrage among the public, mostly children who were baffled by the network’s choice. However, both series host Bob Smith and producer Roger Muir assured the public that production was only suspended temporarily. The final Howdy Doody episode of the year 1960 aired on September 24th.

At the time, Smith expected a syndication deal for the show, being unaware of the network’s videotape wiping policy. He was only informed of the policy while talking to Roger Muir about the potential deal in front of network executives. Later during that same conversation, a higher-up confirmed the program would return in some form.

When head puppeteer Rufus Rose was leaving his workshop on April 23, 1961, he forgot to turn off an old tube radio. Upon realizing this, he quickly went back to his workshop to turn it off. Had he left it on, hundreds of marionettes could have been destroyed.

In May of 1961, FCC commissioner Newton Minow criticized the quality of several television programs and referred to the medium as a “vast wasteland”. All three major networks including NBC, decided to improve their programming. Series producer Roger Muir agreed with Minow’s plea to improve television and stated that if Howdy Doody was brought back, then it would have to be “at least tolerated” by parents.

By that point, Muir and Howdy Doody cast member, Bobby Nicholson had formed a company called Merritt Enterprises with the intent on developing a program for the then-upcoming Canadian commercial broadcaster, CTV. Before these plans were finalized, NBC announced the return of Howdy Doody with Muir and Nicholson producing the program through Merritt Enterprises, which served as the show’s production company. The network told them that three seasons and 100 episodes would be produced and if successful, the series would continue.

Due to the proposed syndication deal being one of the main reasons why the show was brought back in the first place, NBC made the decision for the show to be recorded on color 35mm film with Merritt Enterprises given ownership of the master reels.

Shortly after being confronted by the network about the show’s comeback, host Bob Smith announced his return to the program along with Lew Anderson, who was the third actor to play Clarabell the Clown. However cast member Bill LeCornec, who played Chief Thunderthud and voiced Dilly Dally did not return to the show as he was unavailable at the time. As a result, voice actor Allen Swift was hired as the new voice of Dilly Dally. (PLACEHOLDER_GIRL) joined the cast as Miss Melody, the local schoolteacher. Host Bob Smith also played the role of Wigged-Out Welch, a beatnik named after the show’s sponsor Welch’s and hawked many products such as grape juice and jelly.

While the program retained most of its whimsical elements, the scripts were improved in order to appeal to parents. The slapstick and overall wildness to the show was somewhat toned down. In addition, the reason why Miss Melody was added was to make the series more educational. Also, the character of Wigged-Out Welch was made to appeal to parents with advertisements during the program only featuring him. The size of the new set was comparable to the set from the early-1950s.

The program resumed filming in August 1961 with the first of these new episodes airing on September 24, 1961, exactly one year after the airing of the episode Clarabell’s Big Surprise. These episodes aired on Sunday evenings at 6, right before the Hunter-Brinkley Report.

The premise of these episodes involved Buffalo Bob, Howdy Doody, and their friends moving back to Doodyville in order to join the town’s circus, which was recently bought by Mayor Phineas T. Bluster. These episodes received positive reviews by critics who both enjoyed the show’s quality and whimsical tone. During the next two years, the program received modest viewership. However in late-1963 after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, families started watching the program together as a form of escapism. This caused the show’s viewership to surge, which then led to NBC renewing the show. The program’s success continued into the 1970s.

Starting in 1970, Smith and Anderson started touring college campuses as their characters, Buffalo Bob and Clarabell. These shows were organized by current Howdy Doody producer, Burt Dubrow. After the success of these shows, Dubrow began his lifelong involvement with the program.

After concerns were raised about advertising towards children in 1972, the program ended their sponsorship with Welch’s. This decision led to a decline in the show’s budget and caused the sudden switch to videotape, which hadn’t been used in the program’s production since 1960.

Despite the changes in production, the show’s popularity continued. Bill LeCornec returned to the show in 1976 as the role of Dr. Singasong, Doodyville’s town doctor and reprised the role of Dilly Dally. During that same year, Marilyn Arnone and Jackie Davis joined the cast as Happy Harmony and Mr. Davis, respectively. Happy Harmony replaced Miss Melody as the town’s schoolteacher and Mr. Davis became the local bandleader.

The program’s viewership started to decline again after NBC moved it to a Saturday morning, 7 a.m. time-slot in 1981. Around the same time, both Jackie Davis and Marylin Arnone left the show. Also, NBC began producing the program in-house. Despite declining ratings, the network still had faith in the show. In fact, during the program’s 40th anniversary in 1987, they heavily promoted the 2-hour, prime-time, anniversary special, It’s Howdy Doody Time: A 40 Year Celebration. The special was a success with the viewership of 16.4 million.

Obviously, as time went by and the years continued, the cast became older. Co-producer and cast member, Bobby Nicholson left the show in 1989 because of his declining health and later died in 1993. His characters, Corny Cobb and Mayor Bluster were recasted, with Burt Dubrow becoming the program’s new co-producer. Soon after, Bill LeCornec also left the program with both of his characters, Dilly Dally and Dr. Singasong being replaced.

Starting in the 1992, NBC began to focus less on their Saturday morning programming for children. Also around this time, the series began focusing less on Buffalo Bob Smith, due to his declining health. As early as 1990, the network began considering replacements for Smith such as David Letterman and Paul Shaffer. Despite this, Smith continued to host the program and voice Howdy Doody. The network hired puppeteer (INSERT_NAME) to substitute for Smith as the voice of Howdy Doody. A few years later in 1996, the series became more educational due to FCC regulations on children’s programming.

The program celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1997. NBC commissioned specials presented by Smith and Howdy Doody showcasing every surviving episode from 1948 to 1960. In December of that year, the network aired a two-hour special about the show’s 50th anniversary. At the end of the special, Buffalo Bob announced that he was leaving Doodyville, so he could explore the world. In real life, Smith left the program because of his health. Producer Burt Dubrow stated that Smith shouldn’t be replaced and the character of Buffalo Bob should be retired. As a result, Howdy became the sole presenter of the program. Sadly in July 1998, Smith died of cancer.

After Smith’s death, the program continued, but still paid tribute to him. In 1999, Roger Muir retired from producing the series, but Lew Anderson remained as Clarabell, until 2005, when he was replaced by (INSERT_CLOWN).

In order to revive interest in the series, NBC revived Howdy’s President For All Kids campaign with Howdy running against Mayor Bluster. While the campaign wasn’t as successful as the network had hoped, Howdy still won most of the votes. The campaign was revived in 2008, 2016, and 2020.

Beginning in 2008, the series was moved to 6:30 in the morning and started to be filmed in high-definition. This caused the the program’s viewership to decline even more.

In 2013, NBCUniversal moved first-run episodes of the program to Cozi TV, a digital sub-channel. New episodes of the series air on Fridays at 7:30 in the morning, while NBC airs these episodes the following day.

While the series did celebrate its 70th anniversary in 2017, nothing spectacular was planned.

The program’s 72nd season was cut early in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Filming for the series resumed in August 2020 for its 73rd season, which premiered on October 2, 2020.

Syndication and international broadcast
1961-1982 episodes were originally aired using The Howdy Doody Show title. When the series went into syndication in 1964, repeats used the more familiar, shortened title Howdy Doody. This practice continued until the early-1980s, when first-run episodes began using the shortened title, Howdy Doody.

Also during that time in 1964, CTV started broadcasting the show. A few years later in 1967, the program’s production company, Merritt Enterprises was renamed to Nicholson-Muir Productions.

Episodes from 1961-72 are distributed by CBS Television Distribution, while modern episodes are distributed by SFM Entertainment.

TBA